Virtual pet system

ABSTRACT

A virtual pet breeding system that allows users of the game to buy virtual pets for their account which can be bred to obtain or generate new virtual pets (offspring) that are added to the user&#39;s account, wherein at least some of the offspring can materialize into a physical toy or object for the user to enjoy in the real world. In particular, some virtual offspring will be paired with a redemption code which allows the user to order and/or receive a real world/physical item resembling the virtual offspring that was produced from the virtual breeding.

BACKGROUND

U.S. Pat. No. 7,604,525 describes the applicant's system which revolutionized the field of virtual toys that resemble a real toy. According to that patent, toys which were sold came with a secret code which could be redeemed on a website or online game in order to obtain a virtual representation of the toy that could be interacted with on the website or online game.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The inventor recognizes, however, that a system such as this in which toys are sold, yields an income stream that scales linearly with the number of toys that have been made. For example, the market can become saturated with toys of a certain type if too many of them are made. This in turn reduces the demand, and reduces the sales. Therefore, there is necessarily a limit to the size of the market that can be made for these kinds of toys, and hence a limit on the total income one can get from those toys.

According to one embodiment, a breeding game system is described that allows users of the game to buy virtual pets for their account which can be bred to create new virtual pets (offspring) that are added to the user's account. According to one embodiment, different virtual pets have different levels of rarity, and the rarity of the pet impacts the rarity of its potential offspring.

According to an embodiment, a certain percentage of the breedings lead to a physical toy, by providing a code to the user which can be redeemed for the physical toy, thus providing a physical toy as a byproduct of breeding the virtual pets.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram; and

FIG. 2 shows a code with a pet within a virtual pet breeding system and/or game which allows users an opportunity to breed their virtual pets to obtain a virtual offspring pet as well as a real-world plush toy that resembles that virtual offspring.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

U.S. Pat. No. 7,604,525 refers to an entertainment system including a website. Users can purchase toys, and once having obtained a toy, the user can register the toy online using a registration code. The registration code allows the user access to a virtual representation of the toy that was purchased. The user is also allowed access to various activities and scenarios in a virtual world including a virtual representation of the toy, and of any other toys that the user has purchased and registered. The virtual world is shown via a computer or an app running on a mobile device connected to the Internet. The virtual world can also be shown “offline”, e.g., at times when the computer or the app is not necessarily connected to the Internet.

The current embodiments go against the teachings in this established technology, by creating a breeding game system for virtual pets, and the results of the breeding of the virtual pets is the creation of a virtual offspring pet that may include the provision of a code (such as a redemption code), which code can then be redeemed to obtain a real world toy or item (referred to as a redemption toy or item) which resembles the virtual offspring. The redemption code is not provided with all virtual offspring, as described herein, so that sometimes the offspring will be provided with the redemption code, and at other times, the virtual offspring will not be provided with such code. In essence, when users carry out the breeding, the user gets a redemption code only some of the time, and other times, the user does not get that code. Therefore, from the point of view of the user, the code is received randomly.

In another embodiment, the redemption toy/item can be provided in some way other than via a code provided to the user. For example, the user may receive a certificate or a link to click on in order to receive the redemption toy/item.

An embodiment shown in FIG. 1 uses an entertainment system 1 with a server 2 that communicates with a virtual world providing subsystem 7, a storage subsystem 5, and a registration subsystem 6. A user 10 obtains products from a retail store 9 via a toy manufacturer 8, or online through e-commerce.

In one embodiment, each virtual pet purchased by a user is available for breeding, meaning that every virtual pet that is obtained can breed with any other virtual pet in the user's account. However, the virtual pet's degree of rarity determines the results of the breeding. Breeding requires a minimum of 2 virtual pets to be held on one account.

All virtual pets will have a limited number of times that they can breed. For example, free virtual pets, can be bred once, virtual pets which are purchased can be bred up to 3 times, and special breeding virtual pets can be bred up to 5 times.

The virtual pets each have a certain degree of rarity. The rarity can vary from “common” (which is the most common), to uncommon, to rare, to super rare and finally to ultra-rare (which is the most rare). Purchased virtual pets of the same type look identical, in that they have common features such as eye color and fur color for example. These common features are considered the base features for that virtual pet.

The breeding of virtual pets result in virtual offspring. These offspring begin as babies. The offspring grow over time to a full size. In one embodiment, once the virtual offspring are full-grown, the offspring are able to breed.

In one embodiment, each virtual offspring from the same breeding pair will not necessarily look identical to either of the virtual parents, but rather will have different features and/or common features. According to one embodiment, for example, a virtual pet dog may breed with a virtual purple unicorn. For this breeding, there are equal chances that the offspring will be the same type of virtual pet as one of the virtual parents: 50% chance the offspring will be a dog and 50% chance the offspring will be a unicorn. In another example, a virtual pet dog may breed with a virtual pet cat and the virtual offspring could be a Pegasus. The Pegasus may or may not have features in common with either virtual parent (i.e., the virtual pet dog or cat).

In one embodiment, all virtual offspring have at least one feature different from the base features of the virtual pet of its type. Base features may include eye color, coat color, hair color, hair/fur type, and species. For example, if the virtual offspring of a horse and a monkey is a cat, that offspring may have a different fur pattern from one or both parents. The offspring's different features can have their own rarity. The number of different features and rarity of the different features can be determined by the offspring's rarity.

In one embodiment, the rarity of and number of times a virtual pet can be bred are not tied to the pet type, but rather are bundled with the virtual pet at the time of purchase or creation of the virtual pet. The price for the virtual pet may depend on the breeding rarity and number of breeding uses, where less common or more rare pets and pets with more breeding capability will cost more.

In the example given above, a virtual pet dog may be considered a common pet, and the virtual purple unicorn may be a rare pet. This combination will have specific odds for the rarity of its offspring. For example, the breeding may result in a common pet 40% of the time, an uncommon pet 35% of the time, a rare pet 20% of the time and an even lesser chance for an ultra-rare pet or super rare pet. Other percentages are of course contemplated.

In one embodiment, not all virtual pets are able to be bred. For example, some pets such as the one-of-a-kind pets, special partner pets and holiday pets cannot be bred.

In one embodiment, the pets must be qualified as full-grown or of a sufficient virtual age in order to breed. Neither the gender nor the species of the pets affects the breeding. Virtual offspring may have at least one characteristic or feature in common with at least one parent. Alternatively, it is also possible that the virtual offspring have no characteristic or feature in common with at least one parent.

In one embodiment, there is a cost, e.g., in virtual currency, that must be paid in order to breed. In one embodiment, the virtual currency is shown as “diamonds”. “Diamonds” are purchased through the game with real world money establishing a breeding game system as a revenue source.

One embodiment provides for the ability to obtain real world toys or other physical items, called redemption toys/items, through the virtual pet breeding game system. The breeding of two virtual pets produces virtual offspring and the awarding of a redemption code that can be redeemed for a redemption toy/item that resembles the virtual offspring.

In one embodiment, redemption toys or items will have a fixed design, and will be in limited edition since only a fixed number of these toys/items will be made. The redemption code permits the purchase or the reward of the redemption toy/item from the manufacturer or its distributor or other designated party. See FIG. 2, which shows the redemption code which was obtained from breeding virtual pets to yield virtual offspring. The redemption code permits the user to purchase or otherwise obtain the redemption toy or item. The redemption toy or item is a representation of the virtual offspring. Breeding virtual pets which are more rare (or are defined to have rare features) increases the chances of being awarded a redemption code.

In one embodiment, there may be multiple redemption toys/items available—each with their own fixed number of toys/items. For example, a Rare Redemption Toy may have 10 times the number of toys made as a Limited Edition Redemption Toy; and then there could also be a special, hand-made, one-of-a-kind Redemption Toy made as an ultimate prize for playing in the breeding game system.

This new scenario is completely different from the usual toy selling and purchasing scenario. In a present embodiment, users purchase virtual pets, which are added to their user account. Having virtual pets that can breed provides an opportunity to create virtual offspring and a chance to obtain a redemption code which can be redeemed to obtain a limited edition redemption toy/item. Alternatively, users purchase a physical toy which includes a unique code that is registered online on a website. After registration, a virtual pet that resembles the physical toy is added to the user's (online) account. When the user's account has virtual pets that can breed, and breeding is completed, then virtual offspring results. The virtual offspring may provide a redemption code for a redemption item (e.g., a physical toy-like version of the virtual offspring). The redemption code is redeemed for the redemption item. This model creates additional, previously unrealized value for the purchase of virtual pets and toys with codes that can be registered to obtain a virtual pet.

The model embodied extends the revenue potential of each redemption toy/item, as numerous breedings will occur, which will cause redemption codes to be rewarded with at least some of those breedings. The redemption codes will be redeemed and through redeeming the codes, redemption toys/items closely resembling the virtual offspring will be purchased. Because the fixed numbers of redemption toys/items made for each limited edition redemption code can be scaled based on the real world numbers of breedings taking place, the model is not tied to the whims and fluctuations of the retail marketplace.

In the operation of one embodiment, the user selects two virtual pets to breed. Breeding may be represented by a machine that the user's virtual pet enters. Entering the machine brings up the breeding user interface. The breeding UI displays the user's full list of virtual pets that are available for breeding. Virtual pets that are not breedable, or have already been bred to their maximum will be grayed out on this list. The rarity indicator of each virtual pet as well as the number of breedings still allowed, are also indicated on this list. When the virtual pets are bred, there is an animation with lights and sparkles, and the presentation of a new baby virtual offspring. As explained above, the virtual offspring that results from the breeding is based on the rarity, type and generation of the parent virtual pets, according to an odds chart. After selecting any two virtual pets, the system will show an area where the users can see the potential results from the combination. The results will fade from one result to the next, as if the parents are dreaming about what their offspring will look like.

The generation of the virtual pet can provide a modifier to the chart that increases the odds of getting a higher rarity virtual pet. In this embodiment, the generation of the pet can be determined as:

-   -   generation 1: the virtual pet had two non-bred parents;     -   generation 2: the virtual pet had one non-bred parent and one         bred parent; and     -   generation 3: the virtual pet had two bred parents.

In order to provide at least some control to the user, special features of the virtual parents can influence, affect or impact the odds of the offspring's features towards the same type of feature. For example:

-   -   parent A is a cat with an uncommon back pattern and uncommon fur         color.     -   parent B is a dog with a rare face pattern, uncommon back         pattern and common markings.     -   the baby (offspring) is determined to be an uncommon cat with a         rare feature and an uncommon feature.     -   for the rare feature, in one embodiment, getting a face pattern         would have +10% odds (taken from the other options equally). As         the rare face pattern is from the dog, if a rare face pattern is         selected, both options would have equal odds.     -   for the uncommon feature, in one embodiment back pattern would         be +20% odds and fur color is +10% odds.     -   in the case that the back pattern is selected, the offspring         would be given the back pattern of the parent, as they are the         same species.

When the virtual offspring arrives as a baby, only the fur color is displayed, and the final rarity of the new virtual offspring is not shown. Those are to be discovered through playing with the virtual offspring in the virtual world.

Babies (Virtual Offspring in Baby Mode):

When the baby is added to the user's account, it is placed into the home in a 2×1 tile crib on the reserved front path.

The baby is a full avatar, just one that cannot be actively played in the world.

The baby will appear on the “my pets” page (the user's page of all pets registered in the account) with their current growth progress (see below).

It will be possible to choose to play as the baby where the user plays the baby pet in a special “baby view” mode—not the normal webkinz play mode.

The crib can be moved just like any item.

While an active virtual pet is in the same room as the virtual baby/offspring, and the baby is awake, it will make simple, icon-based requests, such as:

-   -   hungry     -   tired     -   grumpy     -   sad     -   play     -   clean me

To meet these needs, the player will click on the crib to enter “play with baby” mode.

In this mode the camera will zoom into the baby similar to how the camera moves into a pet for dressing.

Here the player will be given several button-based options:

-   -   give bottle     -   give food     -   change diaper     -   shake rattle     -   give teddy     -   baby talk     -   funny face     -   tickle     -   lullaby

Users can enter this mode at any time to play with their baby. The options can be used to meet the baby's needs, or simply to enjoy their pet.

If the baby gets too irritated, it will start to cry and then fall asleep. It is also possible to put your pet to sleep happily. Once a baby is asleep or crying, the activity will automatically end.

Visitors to the virtual pet's home may also play with the baby using this feature but will never see the icon-based requests.

Once every x hours, the baby will give a special request called a “growth moment”. These requests will be given a unique treatment. The player should pay special attention during these requests.

When one of these needs are met, the growth meter will be displayed and shown to move one step up.

After X growth moments, where X can be 20 in one embodiment, the baby will be ready to upgrade to a kid. A button to upgrade will now appear on the pet's mypets page and as an option when playing with the baby (account owner only).

The baby will not automatically upgrade at any point. If a player wants to keep their pet as a baby forever, they may.

Once a baby is ready to upgrade, that baby will no longer receive growth moment requests.

Kid Mode (for Virtual Offspring):

Once the player decides to upgrade their pet to kid mode, the system displays an animation of the baby raising out of the crib then spinning with a happy look on its face creating a wave of sparkles—then stretching and squashing until it appears as its kid mode.

Two unique features will be displayed in this mode. If one of the unique features is fur color (displayed as baby) only one feature will be added.

In kid mode, the virtual pet can be used as a regular virtual pet, including regular feeding, dressing and playing.

Kids will have a pet care heart like a normal virtual pet and will have pet requests.

Kid pets will have specific pet requests that are written to sound more like a kid asking their parent and will include more “let's play” type of requests.

As with the babies, once every x hours, a pet request will be flagged as a growth moment, and displayed in a special word balloon with a growth icon.

Completing a growth moment request will bring up the growth meter and increase the size by one step.

After x growth moments, where x is 20 in an embodiment, the virtual child/kid pet will be ready to upgrade to fully grown. A button to upgrade will now appear on the pet's mypets page.

The virtual kid pet will not automatically upgrade at any point.

Once the virtual kid pet is ready to upgrade, they will no longer receive growth moment requests.

Final Reveal:

When the user clicks to upgrade their virtual kid pet to fully grown, they will be shown the final reveal of their virtual offspring pet.

In one embodiment, this blacks out the background, brings the virtual kid pet up on the screen to appear relatively large in the middle of the screen, then with a flash of light and sparkles, the virtual pet grows to or becomes a full-grown version of the pet.

At this point, all the special features of the virtual pet are displayed on the virtual pet.

Each special feature is shown, one at a time, by rotating/zooming the virtual pet to display the best view of the feature, with its rarity shown.

After showing all the special features, the final rarity of the virtual pet is revealed.

The user is then returned to the game world.

The final rarity of the virtual pet will be added to the pet's mypets (pet collection) page.

Redemption Pets/Toys (Obtained from a Redeemed Redemption Code) are Real-World Toys/Figurines/Items Created to Resemble a Virtual Offspring Pet:

For each parent rarity combination, there is a chance to be awarded a redemption pet instead of getting a randomly generated virtual offspring pet.

Redemption virtual offspring pets have a fixed texture and/or overall appearance. The redemption toy/item for this virtual offspring pet will be designed to resemble the look of the virtual pet.

Currently there are two potential rarities of redemption pets from the breeding system: rare and limited edition.

When a redemption pet is created in the virtual world, it is presented in a special fashion that differs from a regular breed. The limited edition presentation is even more special.

The user is given a redemption code to be used at a designated estore to get the chance to purchase their redemption toy (a real world or physical toy/item version of the virtual offspring).

The code will have an expiry date set to a fixed number of days after awarding. This will allow a limited edition toy to be held for the user but released automatically if the user decides not to carry out the redemption.

The redemption toy itself will not come with a pet (registration) code for getting a virtual pet, as the virtual offspring pet has already been adopted (via breeding) and added onto the user account by virtue of the “parent” pets that were previously registered to that account. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a server computer which communicates with a plurality of remote computers, and is programmed to create signals that cause a display to be created on the remote computers, where the display creates a virtual world which displays multiple virtual pets associated with a user of a remote computer, where the server computer allows the user to carry out a simulated breeding process between the virtual pets, by accepting a request from the user to carry out the breeding process between the virtual pets, and based on the request from the user to carry out the breeding process, to create a virtual offspring from the virtual pets, and to provide access to the virtual offspring to the user in the virtual world, and where, some times, the server computer carries out the simulated breeding to provide a redemption code to the user, and at other times, the server computer carries out the simulated breeding without providing the redemption code to the user, where the redemption code is redeemed for a physical item resembling the virtual offspring, wherein each of the virtual pets has an assigned rarity level that defines how rare the virtual pet is, and virtual offspring pets which are more rare have a higher chance of being awarded the redemption code, and wherein the virtual offspring pet is a different species from each of the multiple virtual pets that parented the virtual offspring pet.
 2. The system as in claim 1, further comprising an odds chart stored on the server computer which sets a likelihood of offspring characteristics, and where the virtual offspring pets are assigned a rarity level from the server computer that is affected by rarity levels of the multiple virtual pets who parented the virtual offspring pet.
 3. The system as in claim 2, wherein the odds chart stored on the server computer also includes information about whether the virtual pets were previously bred or not bred.
 4. The system as in claim 3, wherein a first redemption code has a first rarity level called a rare redemption code that is redeemed for a rare redemption toy, and a second redemption code has a second rarity level, more rare than the first redemption code that is redeemed for a limited edition toy.
 5. The system as in claim 1, wherein the computer stores a collection of the user's virtual pets, and stores and displays a user interface for the breeding, showing a list of the user's virtual pets which are available for breeding.
 6. The system as in claim 1, wherein the virtual representation of the physical item is automatically added to the user's collection of virtual pets.
 7. The system as in claim 1, wherein the server computer displays potential results from breeding among a collection of virtual pets when multiple virtual pets are selected.
 8. The system as in claim 1, where the virtual offspring includes at least one feature common to at least one of a selected subset of the multiple virtual pets.
 9. A method comprising: using a server computer for communicating with a plurality of remote computers; using the server computer to create signals that cause a display to be created on the remote computers, where the display creates a virtual world which displays multiple virtual pets associated with a user of a remote computer; allowing the user to carry out a simulated breeding process between the multiple virtual pets, by accepting a request from the user to carry out the breeding process between the multiple virtual pets, and based on the request from the user to carry out the breeding process, to create a virtual offspring between the multiple virtual pets, and to provide access to the virtual offspring to the user in the virtual world; wherein, some times, the server computer providing a redemption code to the user and at other times, the server computer carrying out the simulated breeding without providing the redemption code to the user; and redeeming the redemption code for a physical version of the virtual offspring provided to the user, wherein each of the virtual pets has an assigned rarity level that defines how rare the virtual pet is, and virtual offspring pets which are more rare have a higher chance of being awarded the redemption code, and wherein the virtual offspring pet is a different species from each of the multiple virtual pets that parented the virtual offspring pet.
 10. The method as in claim 9, wherein each of the virtual pets has an assigned rarity level, using an odds chart stored on the server computer which sets a likelihood of offspring characteristics, and where the virtual offspring also gets a rarity level from the server computer that is dependent on rarity level of both of the multiple virtual pets.
 11. The method as in claim 10, wherein the odds chart stored on the server computer also includes information about whether the pets are bred or not bred.
 12. The method as in claim 9, wherein a first redemption code has a first rarity level called a rare redemption code that is redeemed for a rare redemption physical toy, and a second redemption code has a second rarity level, more rare than the first redemption code that is redeemed for a limited edition redemption physical toy.
 13. The method as in claim 9, wherein the server computer stores a collection of the user's virtual pets, and stores and displays a user interface for the breeding, showing a list of the user's virtual pets which are available for breeding.
 14. The method as in claim 9, further comprising automatically adding a virtual representation of the physical offspring to the user's collection of virtual pets.
 15. The method as in claim 14, wherein the computer displays potential results from breeding among the collection of virtual pets when multiple virtual pets are selected.
 16. The method as in claim 9, where a virtual offspring includes at least one feature common to at least one of a selected subset of the multiple virtual pets.
 17. The method as in claim 9, where the some times appear as random times from a point of view of the user.
 18. A method of operating a virtual world with virtual pets, comprising: providing a plurality of codes to a plurality of users, where each code represents a virtual pet; receiving, from the users, the codes, and responsive to receiving a first code from a first user, assigning a first virtual pet to the first user's account, where the first virtual pet is rendered on a display based on the code, where the first user's account is capable of storing multiple virtual pets; responsive to a user requesting breeding between any two of the virtual pets, displaying a breeding user interface which shows a list of virtual pets which are assigned to the user's account and are available for breeding; responsive to selecting the any two virtual pets, and selecting that breeding of the any two virtual pets is desired, providing a breeding of the selected two virtual pets, which provides a virtual offspring having at least one characteristic influenced from one of the two virtual pets; and according to an odds chart, selectively providing a redemption code to the first user along with the virtual offspring, where only some of the offspring receive the redemption code, and others of the offspring do not receive the redemption code, wherein each of the virtual offspring has an assigned rarity level that defines how rare the virtual offspring is, and virtual offspring which are more rare have a higher chance of being awarded the redemption code; and wherein the virtual offspring pet is a different species from each of the multiple virtual pets that parented the virtual offspring pet; and responsive to receiving a redemption code from the first user, arranging to send to the first user, a physical toy version of the virtual offspring that is based on the redemption code. 